Though it was named more than 175 years ago, Marion County has artifacts dating long before then — some several centuries old. Whether indigenous peoples, European explorers, early American settlers, or turn-of-the-century residents and beyond — much of that history is documented and maintained at the Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology, located at the northeast end of the McPherson Governmental Campus.

Enter the museum and you will immediately be greeted by an array of old documents and photographs, military medals belonging to soldiers who called Ocala home, farming gear or hunting rifles of early farmers and hunters, and dozens of artifacts from homes, businesses, and government buildings throughout Marion County’s past.

Price Landrum is the museum’s president and a volunteer. All of the staff at the museum are volunteers — those who spend their time there do it for the love of documenting local history.

Landrum spends a few days a week at the museum, giving tours and curating displays throughout the building, which he says used to be a detention area for the all-girls school that eventually became the home of Marion County government.

“I first became involved with the museum when I joined the Marion County Historical Commission in the late 1980s when it was coming to the end of remodeling East Hall into a museum,” he explained. “I began actually volunteering when we thought we needed someone with a schoolboard background check to supervise high school volunteers. I began giving tours, and my background as a teacher must have helped because I got positive feedback. I enjoyed it, so I expanded to three days a week (at the museum).”

Now, Landrum is just one member of a team of volunteers who give tours, build displays, and conduct research at the museum. Exhibits at the museum range from animal bones and arrowheads dating back thousands of years to more recent historical artifacts from the past century.

One particular piece in a display of animal bones always gets a few raised eyebrows, Landrum notes.

“Most of these were found in Silver Glen Springs,” he said. “In fact, you may find one in there that surprises you — a camel in Marion County. It’s indigenous, and it was a miniature camel.”

The display with bones and arrowheads sits next to one of the museum’s largest pieces that is immediately noticeable as soon as you walk into the building — remnants of a large wooden canoe used by indigenous Floridians thousands of years ago that was found by chance and painstakingly restored.

“The canoe was found in Ocklawaha in the 1980s when the water was low,” he explained. “It was taken to Tallahassee and treated in sugar water for five years.”

Each section of the museum is dedicated to a different time period of Marion County’s history — maps documenting the county’s various railroad lines in the 1800s hang across the hall from a rifle used in the Second Seminole War, which is in the same room as a detailed model of the W.H. Fore Homestead in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Scrambletown. Another display case holds a typewriter from the office of the Ocala Evening Star newspaper on the bottom and medicine bottles from the late 1800s on the top.

Many of the artifacts, maps, signs and other items displayed in the museum are donations from people throughout Marion County and the state of Florida, according to Landrum. And while Landrum and the rest of the staff do plenty of work tracking down records and other historical items, there are several donations that come as a surprise from someone just walking through the door one day.

“One Saturday, we have this guy come in and he says, ‘My brother-in-law was from Ocala and these papers are related to him,’” Landrum said. “I said sure, and I started going through this stuff and it was a treasure trove.”

One such donation is a display Landrum is particularly proud of.

Louis Dosh and the S.S. Ocala Victory

Sitting in one alcove of the museum is a glass display case and several frames on the wall surrounding it filled with photos, letters, medals and other items from Louis Dosh, an Ocala native and U.S. Army soldier who died during World War II. Louis was the son of Bert Dosh, the former editor of the Ocala Star-Banner newspaper (and who also was the original owner of the typewriter mentioned earlier).

Louis’ story is one of honor, sacrifice and loss, and it’s a story Landrum is honored to tell. Upon graduating from West Point, Louis married his sweetheart, model Betty Drummond Bloxsom, and a photo from their wedding was featured on the cover of the July 4, 1938 issue of LIFE Magazine, a copy of which sits in the display case at the museum.

During the war, Louis was captured in the Pacific theater and was a prisoner of war, where he died and was buried at sea. While he was imprisoned but before learning of his death, Betty had the opportunity to christen a Victory ship — a special type of cargo ship built in large quantities during World War II. This particular ship was named the S.S. Ocala Victory, and Betty was chosen to christen the ship.

“Victory ships were named after cities,” Landrum said. “They picked Ocala because of the number of war bonds sold in Ocala, and because of (Louis’) status as a prisoner of war.”

Betty christened the ship with a wine bottle contained in a special pouch, and that pouch — with the pieces of glass still inside — sits inside the display case at the museum, along with several other items originally belonging to her or Louis.

“The shipping company gave her the bottle, a box for the bottle with her name on it, a photo album, and two pieces of jewelry,” Landrum said. “After the war, Louis received a Purple Heart posthumously, and there’s a letter from General Douglas MacArthur to Betty.”

While the museum already had some items on display featuring Louis, the display case that holds his letters, medals and photos was another fairly recent donation that just appeared out of the blue one day, according to Landrum.

“Right before Covid hit, we get this letter in our post office box, and it says ‘Dosh,’ and it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” he explained. “There’s a photo of this display in there, and we had seen references to this display in newspapers in Tampa — Louis’ brother Lawrence was still alive, and Lawrence’s wife had made this display about Louis for him. The letter said (Lawrence) wanted us to have this.”

A Treasure Trove of Local History

Louis’ display is just one of many that mean a lot to Landrum and the other board members of the museum. Documenting Marion County history is a task they hold near and dear to their hearts, and donations such as that are what make the museum one of the best places to learn about Marion County and the people who lived here throughout the past.

Stop by the museum and Landrum or any of the other board members are happy to spend hours telling you everything they know about the artifacts kept there, and anyone who has even the slightest interest in local history owes it to themselves to stop by and take in everything the museum has to offer.

“Being involved with the museum before the building was even remodeled, and volunteering with it now, is sort of my life’s work,” Landrum said. “Come in on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday and I'll give you a personal tour — the museum is the place to learn more about Marion County, and learn things you might not hear anywhere else.”

 The Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology

Location: 307 SE 26th Terrace, Ocala, FL 34471 (The northeast end of the McPherson Governmental Campus)

Museum Hours: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday (Closed on Wednesdays and Sundays)

Website: Marion County Museum of History and Archaeology